Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Bentacur 12, Johnson 45+2) Wolves 2 (Hee-chan 7, Larsen 87)
A home game against relegation-threatened opposition ought to mean only one thing for Tottenham. Instead, there was an impossible-to-ignore sense of foreboding before and during plenty of this one. It is simply the period that Ange Postecoglou and his players are living.
Spurs trailed to Hwang Hee-chan, who started his first Premier League game for Wolves since August. They equalised through Rodrigo Bentancur. They missed a penalty, Son Heung-min the culprit. And then they led through Brennan Johnson. All inside the first half. They had the openings in the second period to make it 3-1, to soothe the nerves that were almost audible inside the stadium.
Everybody knew that there could be a late sting and not just because Wolves have been revitalised since Vitor Pereira replaced Gary O’Neil as the manager and promptly beat Leicester and Manchester United. And so it came to pass.
It was a slice inside from Rayan Aït-Nouri followed by the killer ball up to the substitute Jørgen Strand Larsen who took a touch and lashed high inside the near corner of the net.
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There were boos from the frustrated home support upon the full-time whistle, who have seen their team win just once in the last seven league matches; an overall feeling of soul-searching. The result here was everything to Postecoglou and, for once, he probably did not care how it came. Once again, it would elude him.
Wolves have become something of a bogey team for Spurs. They had won on three of their previous five trips to this stadium and they travelled with a spring in their step, the bounce under Pereira pronounced.
Pereira heard the Wolves fans chant his name five minutes before kick-off and there were further choruses of it after his team went ahead in the early running. What was most noticeable was how much time and space Hwang had when Aït-Nouri rolled a short free-kick towards him just outside the Spurs box.
Johnson claimed he was blocked from getting out by Santiago Bueno but the lack of intensity from those in white was a worry. Hwang’s first-time curled finish was a beauty. At that point, it was easy to fear for Spurs.
The home crowd felt a little soporific. Too much Christmas turkey? Or too much time watching this team try to cover the spaces in front of the back four, to defend against the transition? They needed a lift and they got it when Bentancur attacked a Pedro Porro corner to flash a header home.
It was a strange first half. Spurs grew into it and finished on top. And yet they were loose at times, throwing a couple of slapstick moments into the mix, especially the one when Dominic Solanke and Bentancur banged into each other inside the Wolves box and went to ground. They had eyes on the same shooting opportunity after a Dejan Kulusevski cut-back. The offside flag would go up against Kulusevski.
Postecoglou’s team missed chances. Radu Dragusin headed inches wide from a Porro corner in the 24th minute. Yves Bissouma lashed high on 39 minutes and there was the Son penalty miss shortly afterwards.
The captain had endured a couple of wobbly moments, drawing murmurs from the crowd and he watched José Sá spring the right way to deny him from the spot. The kick had been awarded for a needless challenge by André on Johnson.
Johnson would make Son feel better before half-time. Son had just been thwarted by a fine tackle by the former Spurs defender Matt Doherty when Kulusevski checked inside from the right and went back to Johnson. It was a dynamic incision by Kulusevski. Johnson’s conversion was low and true.
Wolves’s prospects took another knock when Matheus Cunha failed to reappear for the second-half. He would be spotted on the bench with ice under his left knee. The Brazilian had been in the mood from the moment he executed a flair back-heel with his first touch. He roamed from the left, supremely confident on the ball, offering the impression he was certain about making something happen. Wolves would also lose André to what looked like a muscle problem.
Spurs had to reshuffle, too, their defensive injury woes compounded when Destiny Udogie pulled up with hamstring trouble shortly after the second-half restart. On came the lesser-spotted Sergio Reguilón.
The second period was a slog, one of the abiding images coming when Son was among the players withdrawn by Postecoglou. Son was a case study in dejection, head bowed, walking off at low speed. He had waited for what seemed an age before taking his penalty. This action took him rather longer.
Spurs had the chances to extend their lead. Solanke got away before showing too much of the ball to Bueno. Pape Sarr, on as a substitute, could not execute the final action after a fine run. Solanke could not get a touch to a cross from another substitute, Timo Werner. Kulusevski could not finish after good work by Solanke.
Wolves remained in contention. They had created little after the interval, save for an Aït-Nouri shot that Porro blocked. But this is Spurs, a team with a rare vulnerability about them. Wolves knew that one chance could change everything. When Ait-Nouri made it for Strand Larsen, it did.
Sarr might have scored in stoppage-time only to misdirect a header when well-placed and it said everything when Bentancur was booked for a crude hack at the Wolves substitute Rodrigo Gomes. Bentancur has only just returned from a seven-match ban for a racial slur against Son. Now he is banned for another game for accumulating five yellow cards.
